Some Day
by Martianlightsaber
Summary: TP one-shot. Hopes, dreams, thoughts of a father who left without a word, and looking to the future.


**Some Day**

A young boy snuggled into the warm sheets, tucked in by the ever-loving Sarah Hawkins.

_Some day,_ he thought, _I'll become a spacer. Just like dad. I'll battle pirates, soar the Etherium, and bring back treasure for my parents. I'll explore the galaxy and find the famed Treasure Planet because_ I know it's real.

Two years later, the toddler was a boy. He sat on the cozy rug of the Benbow, fixing a toy boat. The door opened. He rose. The man patted him absently on the head without so much as a glance his way. He sank down once more, his creation lay forgotten in his open palms.

_Some day,_ he wished, _I'll become a spacer. The best spacer ever. I'll show them I'm more than a boy with a boat and a big dream. And when I do, he'll hug me and tell me that he loves me. He'll pay attention to me when_ I'm good enough.

The boy grew, and the boy tried. His mother looked on as her son added yet another piece to the ever-growing pile of gadgetry that would soon become his very first solar surfer. She looked, and she hoped, that maybe, just maybe, Leland would see the gem son had become. Spanner clutched in his small 8-year-old hands, the boy bent over his jumbled collection and set to work.

_Some day,_ he vowed, _I'll become a spacer. I'll be free, and I'll be strong, and I'll make mum proud. I'll show him that I'm worth it, and that I can make it, and that mum needs him. Even as I work now, she sits there smiling, encouraging me. But she isn't all there, not all. She is sad and distant, and I know why._ I'm going to bring him back.

The morning dawned an angry orange over the planet of Montressor. The boy woke with a start to the sound of sobs emanating from the dining room, and he knew, and he dreaded. His hair still mussed, he swung out of his room, clad in pajamas, seeing his mum sobbing silently by the window.

_No,_ he thought, the single word repeating itself over and over in his mind. _No_ – the only thing he could grasp – _he can't._

The moist ground of Montressor sent him splayed on all fours, an unwanted delay as he watched the retreating figure board the ship. The seconds slipped by, and he knew that his father wasn't turning back. He reached the dock a moment too late, and all the strength he'd used to pull through the past ten years drained away as his tears poursed forth unrestrained.

_It's not fair,_ he thought. _Every boy needs a dad. Every wife, her husband. How could he? Some day – some day I'll show him just what he missed when he left us without a word, not a goodbye, not a sorry, not an_ "I love you".

The years went by and the boy became a young man. The innocent child that yearned to prove himself dissolved with his father, and the teen closed himself off, hidden behind dark clothes and dark eyes. He was happiest alone, free and unbound with the wind whipping through his hair and the challenge of a new stunt before him. They didn't understand his spirit, his need to be free. He was a bird in a cage, and

_Some day,_ he hoped, _I'll leave this dreary place and find my place in the Etherium. I'll find adventure, a life, a purpose. I'll do mum proud, I'll never forget the support she's given me since he left, or the hardship she's been through. I know that so far, I've done nothing but disappoint her, but some day that'll change. Stuck here, I have nothing, no direction, _no future.

He sat on the roof of the Benbow, sullenly flicking stones in the stormy weather. Besides his mother, no one knew of his talents and skills. To his teachers, he was a failure, to the cops he was a delinquent, to Doctor Doppler, he was a felon.

A loud crack split the sky above him as a wrecked ship fell through the atmosphere. With it, came all the excitement, adventure, dreams of treasure and the Etherium that he had long hoped for.

_Some day…_ he mused, _that some day might be today. If I do this, I can prove myself. If I do this, mum will have something to be proud of. We can get that treasure, get the money, and be free from the burdens of Montressor society – the work, the anger, the restrictions. I can do this._ Today.

So he left for the voyage that changed his life, a roller coaster ride of emotions, trials, successes, disappointments and betrayal. The friendships he made, the bonds he formed; they transformed him, brought him out of his shell, and he returned a new person, full of life, full of hope, and most importantly, he returned a man.

Still as he stood amongst the merry-makers in the Benbow rebuilt, he looked up into the heavens, looked forward into the future. Because 'some day' never ends.

_Some day,_ Jim thought, _I'll find the person who changed my life, and thank him for giving me more 'some days' to live for._


End file.
